Swag Bags and Swindlers

Howell's amusing 11th Haley Randolph mystery (after Fanny Packs and Foul Play) finds Haley juggling two jobs%E2%80%94as an assistant events planner for L.A. Affairs, and as a part-time sales clerk for the "seriously crappy Holt's Department Store," where she remains for the health insurance. Hoping to leave Holt's by becoming a permanent staffer at L.A. Affairs, she volunteers to take over all the responsibilities for a colleague who has gone on maternity leave. Those duties come on top of her organizing a gala for the Hollywood Haven, a retirement home for entertainers. When she arrives at the home to finalize arrangements with its assistant director, Derrick Ellery, she finds him lying dead on his office floor, his shirt covered with blood. To further complicate matters, her ex-boyfriend, Ty Cameron, who used to be her boss at Holt's, is the prime suspect in another murder. Self-absorbed Haley isn't the easiest lead character to sympathize with, but Howell keeps the story quick-moving and lighthearted. Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency. (Oct.)